Pianist Mark Markham is known around the world for his twenty-year collaboration with soprano Jessye Norman, as well as his solo performances in recital and with orchestra.

The first half of the program includes 12 solo piano pieces which are like songs without words from 12 different composers – Bach, Bartok, Mompou, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Scriabin, Janacek, Schubert, Poulenc and Schumann.

The repertoire for the second half will be chosen by an audience vote! During the opening cocktail reception at 7pm, audience members will vote on their favorites from a list of 20-25 songs by composers such as Gershwin, Ellington, Weill, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Elton John and Nina Simone. The top choices will be given to Mark Markham during intermission, and he will then improvise on the selections as the second half!

100% of all ticket revenues and donations from this evening will go directly to Sant’Egidio New York. Sant’Egidio’s two major services in New York are distributing food to the homeless in Penn Station and Grand Central Station on a weekly basis, and visiting the elderly in nursing homes or in their own homes.